Sunday August 22

This is Week 34 of 2010►Day 234 with 131 days left.

FREE RAMBLING THOUGHTS

The press keeps talking about Obama’s vacation. Yeah, right. They said that he had a private picnic with his family on the beach at Martha’s Vineyard. Yeah, right….his family and a couple of secret service for him, probably one for his wife, and one for each kid. It is hardly a vacation I would want to take. He is simply taking a break from being in his office, not a break from his work. As a retired civil servant, I know that having a real vacation is almost impossible. Every Federal supervisor I ever worked with would always call in during their vacation…sometimes daily and at the very least twice during the work week. If there was an issue, the phone calls were much more frequent. Part of the reason was so that one would not return to chaos, unaware of some event. In retrospect, it probably wasn’t necessary, but at the time, it was hard to enjoy a vacation by worrying about what was happening. My friends and family ‘supervisors’ who are, or were, not Federal employees also ‘checked in’ during vacation time. They also did this so that they would not return to uninformed chaos. I think I have talked about the time a friend, who was the Navajo Nation Vice President, invited me to a family gathering here in Flagstaff--a mini-vacation. When I got to their house—on Anglo time—I just opened the door and walked in, as I always did. Two Navajo ‘Secret Service’ types showed up out of nowhere and prevented my entry. There was lots of teasing after that incident. Politicians and supervisors never get a real vacation. Some may think it is a vacation, but it certainly isn’t.

Some big-wig at Google told us that in the future, we will have one on-line identity and an off-line identity. He believes that at 18 or 21 you will get a new name. Many Native American cultures have been doing that for centuries. Today’s on-line personality through social networking sites can prove embarrassing. It used to be the parents, pulling out the ‘baby book’ to show your good friends. They would never have thought of showing those cute pictures and associated antics to their child’s boss, or potential employer, the family clergy, and certainly not total strangers. Today, employers use social networking to learn more about their current and potential employees. All of this technology is no new, it is also abused. I’m not sure a new name will help. I have a former co-worker friend on FB. Today she posted that she clicked on ‘free iPad’ and is now getting lots of spam. She started to fill out the pop-up form, but didn’t finish it, realizing that it wasn’t free. She is a highly educated, common sense type person. Her minor lapse in judgment now caused lots of headaches. FB does the same with their ‘like’ button. NPR did a great story this week on how your on-line presence is followed. If you search for ‘airline tickets to LA’ on your computer, within seconds, that information is sold. Suddenly, when you open any browser—AOL, Explorer, Firefox, Safari…-- you will have ads on that page for ‘airline deals to LA’. Sometimes it is only on that computer, other times it follows you whenever you sign in. They don’t have your password, or even your name. The advertiser just knows that your particular binary code searched, and they are there to tell you about their product. It is all legal ‘targeted’ advertising. Of course, sometimes it is more invasive, some can steal all your email contacts and send them spam. Some can actually get your online banking info, your pin numbers, etc. This is all very scary high tech stuff and reminds us all that we have to be very careful whatever we click on, whatever we post, whatever sites we open, and what we do on line. Right now, there is really only one way to protect yourself from this advertising, don’t go on-line.

Flagstaff was dry today, but we sure had several chances to get rain. Huge grey clouds came through the sky and I’m sure they dropped rain somewhere nearby. I just didn’t get any of it. It did get hot [85° on the deck] and this afternoon was muggy [RH was 47%] with basically no ground level breeze. It must have been very windy in the upper atmosphere as those clouds came in quickly, stayed a couple of hours, then were gone quite quickly. Our small local airport is about 5 miles out of town and about 15 miles from my house. For some reason, we have become the flight path for incoming planes. I am right at the bottom of Mt. Elden so I’m not sure why the landing flight pattern has changed. There are only about 5 flights a day and the largest plane holds about 30 people. We just got rid of the train noise, now we get landing noise…it’s not fair. I’m sure it has something to do with the season and the winds and will soon stop. We always have had helicopters—flight of life—over your complex but those flights are very rare and it is difficult to get upset, when you think about why they are flying nearby.

QUOTE FOR THE DAY

White Elk (Otoe Elder, Nebraska): When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

HOLY MACKEREL: 1865 William Sheppard of New York City patented liquid soap

SOMEWHAT USELESS INFORMATION on Sam Clemens Part II

§In his later years, Mark Twain formed a sort of club for the daughters of several friends. He would entertain the Angelfish Club with stories and became a grandfather figure to the group.

§Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870. The couple remained married until Olivia died in 1904, and the sadness inherent in Twain's letters written after 1904 is often attributed to his depression over her death.

§In The Diaries of Adam and Eve , Adam mistakes his son Cain for a fish. He says:

"It resembles us in some ways, and may be a relation. That is what she (Eve) thinks, but this is an error, in my judgment. The difference in size warrants the conclusion that it is a different and new kind of animal--a fish, perhaps, though when I put it in the water to see, it sank, and she plunged in and snatched it out before there was opportunity for the experiment to determine the matter."

§In The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson, Wilson's hobby is taking fingerprints. He stores a collection of fingerprints of the entire town and, in the end, uses this collection to solve a murder case.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 1—Jeopardy Answers: Alphabet Soup

He's the heavyweight of the A-Team

Caveman comic strip created by Johnny Hart

Letter shared by sensuous woman author & 76'ers Doctor

What Bo Derek would have been in ancient Rom

Binet & Simon's measure of mental age

UNUSUAL NEWS ITEM

Note: A friend in Florida, Wes, told me his town is considering these microchip recycle bins in his small town.

Cleveland: Introducing smart recycling bins. They are part of a new recycling initiative being introduced in Cleveland next year. The way it works is new trash and recycling carts will be embedded with radio frequency identification chips and bar codes.

The chips will allow city workers to monitor how often residents roll carts to the curb for collection. If a chip shows a recyclable cart hasn't been brought to the curb in weeks, a trash supervisor will sort through the trash for recyclables.

Trash carts containing more than 10 percent recyclable material, including glass, metal cans, plastic bottles, paper and cardboard, could lead to a $100 fine.

So basically, garbage cops. Of course, citizens could just side-step the issue by wheeling an empty recycling bin to the end of the drive once a week, but the question is, is it right for your local government to bug your garbage cans?

A LITTLE LAUGH

Rodney Dangerfield One Liners:

My mother got morning sickness after I was born.

My uncle's dying wish was to have me sit in his lap...he was in the electric chair!

My father carries around the picture of the kid who came with his wallet.

I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War, my great uncle fought for the west.

I could tell my parents hated me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio.

A girl phoned me the other day and said... Come on over, there's nobody home. I went over. Nobody was home.

GREY MATTER PUZZLE 2--Riddle

What kind of dance does a spaghetti go to?

FOUND ON ‘YOU TUBE’

Neptune: So much to learn, Click Here!

GREY MATTER PICTURE

This is a close up of what object?

SOME CALENDAR INFORMATION

♦ Weekly Observances ♦

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♦ Today’s Observances ♦

Be An Angel Day

Southern Hemisphere: ‘Hoodie Hoo’ Day: yelled at noon today to chase away winter and welcome spring

Russia: Flag Day

♦ Hit Songs on this date ♦

1890 ... Semper Fidelis by U.S. Marine Band Hear it Here!

1910 ... Casey Jones by Billy Murray & American Quartet

1940… I'll Never Smile Again by Tommy Dorsey

1950… Goodnight Irene by Gordon Jenkins & the Weavers Hear it Hear!

1960… It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley

1970… Make It with You by Bread Hear it Here!

1980… Magic by Olivia Newton-John

♦ Today’s Births ♦

• The Arts

Ray Bradbury, 90, author (The Toynbee Convector, Fahrenheit 451), born Waukegan, IL

Claude Debussy, composer (La Mer, Clair de lune): impressionist music…born 1862…St Germain-en-Laye, France

George Herriman, cartoonist: comic strips: Krazy Kat…born 1880…New Orleans, LA

John Lee Hooker, blues musician (Canned Heat) …born 1917…Clarksdale, MS

E. Annie Proulx, 75, author (The Shipping News, Accordion Crimes), born Norwich, CT

Archibald M Willard, artist (Spirit of '76)…born 1836…Bedford, OH

~~~

Honor Blackman, 84, actress (Pussy Galore-Goldfinger) …born … London, England

Valerie Harper, 69, actress (“The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Rhoda”), born Suffern, NY

Cindy Williams, 62, actress (American Graffiti, “Laverne & Shirley”), born Van Nuys, CA

• Athletics

Duane Charles (Bill) Parcells, 69, football coach, born Englewood, NJ

Carl Yastrzemski, 71, Baseball: Red Sox…born …Southampton, NY

• Business & Education

Steve Kroft, 65, television journalist, editor (“60 Minutes”), born Kokomo, IN

Giada De Laurentiis, 40, chef, cookbook author, television personality (“Everyday Italian”), born Rome, Italy

• Politics

Norman H. Schwarzkopf, 76, retired army general, born Trenton, NJ

Deng Xiaoping, Maoist Chinese leader…born 1904… Guang'an, Sichuan, Empire of the Great Qing of China

• Science/Religion

Dr. Denton Cooley, 90, heart surgeon: pioneered many techniques used in cardiovascular surgery; 1st successful US heart transplant…born …Houston, TX

Samuel Langley, pioneer in aviation: Langley Air Force Base [in Virginia] bears his name…born 1834…Roxbury, MA

♦ Today’s Obituaries ♦

Sebastian Cabot, actor (Mr French-Family Affair), stroke @ 59 in 1977

Michael Collins [Mícheál Ó Coileáin], Sinn Fein leader, killed by rebels @ 32 in 1922

Jomo Kenyatta (Kamau wa Muigai), 1st president of Kenya, of the Kikuyu people @ 83 in 1978

♦ Today’s Events ♦

• The Arts

2004 A version of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo,Norway.

• Athletics

1950 Althea Gibson becomes 1st black competitor in national tennis competition

• Business & Education

1762 1st female (Ann Franklin) US newspaper editor, Newport RI, Mercury

• Indigenous People

1670 Hiacoomes preaches his first sermon to his Wampanoag people on Martha's Vineyard

1806 Pike’s expedition has reached a village of the Little Osage near the forks of the Osage River in modern Missouri. He holds a council here with both the Grand and Little Osage. The Little Osage are lead by Tuttassuggy or "The Wind," and the Grand Osage by Cheveau Blanc, or White Hair

• Politics (US)

1846 US annexes New Mexico

1902 Pres Teddy Roosevelt became 1st US chief executive to ride in a car

• Politics (International)

1454 Jews are expelled from Brunn Moravia by order of King Ladislaus

1770 Captain James Cook, having landed at Australia, claimed it for the British Crown

1851 Gold fields discovered in Australia

1988 Australia unveils 1st platinum coin (Koala)

• Science / Religion

565 St Columba reported seeing monster in Loch Ness

1906 1st Victor Victrola manufactured

1968 1st papal visit to Latin America (Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota)

1989 1st complete ring around Neptune discovered

GREY MATTER ANSWERS

↔ 1

He's the heavyweight of the A-Team—Who was Mr. T?

Caveman comic strip created by Johnny Hart—What is BC?

Letter shared by sensuous woman author & 76'ers Doctor—What is ‘J’?

What Bo Derek would have been in ancient Rome—What is ‘X’

Binet & Simon's measure of mental age—What is IQ?

↔ 2

A meatball—meat ball

↔ Picture

A hand mixer

TODAY’S NATIONAL PARK PHOTO SHOTS

Mount Rainier National Park, as of March 2, 1899—4th National Park: Mount Rainier, an active volcano, is the most prominent peak in the Cascades, and it is covered by 26 named glaciers including Carbon Glacier and Emmons Glacier, the largest in the continental United States. The mountain is popular for climbing, and more than half of the park is covered by subalpine and alpine forests. Paradise on the south slope is one of the snowiest places in the world, and the Longmire visitor center is the start of the Wonderland Trail, which encircles the mountain. Mount Rainier was first known by the Native Americans as Talol, or Tacoma, from the Lushootseed word [təqʷúʔbəʔ] ("mother of waters") spoken by the Puyallup.

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